My aim is to offer insights into some of the more subtle principles underpinning prints. The commentary is based on thirty-eight years of teaching and the prints and other collectables that I am focusing on are those which I have acquired over the years.
In the galleries of prints (accessed by clicking the links immediately below) I am also adding fresh images offered for sale. If you get lost in the maze of links, simply click the "home" button to return to the blog discussions.

This is an
exceptionally rare print that is not held in the British Museum and undoubtedly
an early impression (lifetime) as the print quality is simply superb.

Condition: strong,
richly inked, well-printed impression trimmed to the image borderline and with
the text line cut. The sheet is in faultless/pristine condition (i.e. there are
no tears, holes, abrasions, stains, folds or foxing).

I am selling
this rare 17th century engraving of a cat and its mouse for AU$409
in total (currently US$304.68/EUR287.69/GBP245.73 at the time of posting this
listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world. If you are
interested in purchasing this startlingly real depiction of a cat who has brought
its owner a surprise treat in the form of a tiny mouse, please contact me
(oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make
the payment easy.

This print has been sold

This is one of
the minor miracles of 17th century engraving. What makes it stand
out from the many other remarkably well-executed engravings is how well the engraver,
Cornelis Bloemaert (son of the great master, Abraham Bloemaert) expresses the
form of the portrayed cat as solid but softly muscled. For example, whereas a
lesser artist may have rendered the whole cat in minuscule curved strokes as a
way of representing the cat’s fur, Bloemaert has not laid any strokes at all on
those areas of the cat that are in full light and has refrained from using
memetic curved hair-like strokes in the shadows. The only places where the
artist has used marks designed to replicate the individual hairs is on the
half-lights. Another indicator that this is a well-thought out drawing, is the
use of white lines (i.e. “fake” lines where the line work in the background
creates the effect of a white line simply by the absence of drawing a line at
all) designed to represent the cat’s whiskers. In short, there is so much knowledge,
insight and subtlety shown in this engraving that the end result is that this
print is not a collection of lines—it is a living cat that has a cat’s ability
to command attention and to be noticed!